An attempt is made to share the truth regarding issues concerning Israel and her right to exist as a Jewish nation. This blog has expanded to present information about radical Islam and its potential impact upon Israel and the West. Yes, I do mix in a bit of opinion from time to time.

Saturday, August 09, 2014

Hamas

HAMAS (an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawamat al-Islamiyya, which is Arabic for "Islamic Resistance Movement") is an Islamic fundamentalist group founded on December 14, 1987 by Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, Hamas describes itself as "one of the wings of the Muslim Brother[hood]." As a single Arabic word rather than an acronym, "Hamas" means "zeal." The organization's avowed purpose is "liberating Palestine" from its Jewish "oppressors,"
whose very presence in the Middle East Hamas considers an affront to
Muslims' rightful sovereignty over the region. Hamas is best known for
using violent methods -- including suicide bombings against Israeli
military and civilian targets -- as part of its long-term strategy to
destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic Palestinian state. The
U.S. State Department, Canada, Japan, Israel, and the entire European
Union have named Hamas as an Islamic terrorist organization.
With tens of thousands of loyal supporters, Hamas' strength is
concentrated principally in the Gaza Strip and a few areas of the West
Bank. The group's leadership is dispersed throughout these same areas,
with a few senior leaders residing also in Syria, Lebanon, and the Gulf
States.
Over the years, Hamas' funding has derived from a variety of sources. Today it is supported primarily by donations from Iran, Arab governments such as that of Syria, Palestinian expatriates, private benefactors in Arab nations, Islamic fascist groups, and Muslim "charities" from around the world such as the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. (It is estimated that the "charities" account for about half of all Hamas funding today.) Some clandestine fundraising takes place in Western Europe and North America as well. When the United Nations Oil-For-Food program was in effect, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein skimmed more than $21 billion from its coffers and sent some of it directly to Hamas.
Describing Hamas' political and social agendas, Israel scholar Steven Plaut writes: "Hamas and al-Qaeda
are basically two sides of the same jihad. They have squabbled
rhetorically on occasion ... but ... Hamas 'schools' and other
institutions routinely distribute the harangues of [Osama] bin-Laden
and other al-Qaeda materials. Hamas rallies feature posters of bin
Laden and of Chechen terror leaders." Dr. Harold Brackman of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center elaborates:

"Hamas has held secret summits with Al Qaeda operatives in locales as
distant as India, and even sent a select few members to train in bin
Laden’s Afghan camps. For what it’s worth, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
claimed in 2007 that: 'It is Hamas that is shielding Al Qaeda, and
through its bloody conduct, Hamas has become very close to Al Qaeda [in
Gaza].'"

Hamas also has a close working relationship with Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror organization that serves as one of Hamas' major suppliers of weaponry.
The Hamas Charter, written in 1987, puts forth "The Slogan of the Hamas," which closely resembles the Muslim Brotherhood's credo
and reads as follows: "Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the
Qur'an its Constitution, Jihad its path, and death for the case of Allah
its most sublime belief." In addition, the Hamas Charter:

says that jihad, or holy war, "becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman"

explicitly abjures negotiated settlements as mechanisms for peaceful
coexistence: "There is no other solution for the Palestinian problem
other than jihad. All the initiatives and international conferences are a waste of time and a futile game."

mandates that jihad be directed explicitly against the reviled Jews:
"The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares
everyone. They make war against people's livelihood, plunder their
moneys and threaten their honor."

calls for the fulfillment of the Qur'anic scripture which reads:
"The prophet [Mohammad] said: The time will not come until Muslims will
fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and
trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come
on and kill him!"

For additional significant excerpts from the Hamas Charter, click here. To view the Charter in its entirety, click here.

In 1992 Hamas formed its
military wing, known as the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, named in
honor of the late Sheikh who was the forefather of modern Arab
resistance until his death in 1935.

In December 1992, Israeli forces responded to Palestinian atrocities by arresting more than 1,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and deporting 415 of them into Lebanon. Among those expelled were two co-founders of Hamas (including Ismail Haniya) and several of the organization's top military commanders.

In response to these expulsions, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted
Resolution 799 which “strongly” condemned the deportation of “hundreds
of Palestinian civilians” and expressed “its firm opposition to any such
deportation by Israel.” The Security Council further demanded
that Israel “ensure the safe and immediate return to the occupied
territories of all those deported.” American and European officials
likewise pressured Israel to abide by the UN directives. Bill Clinton, for one, said that while he understood Israeli concerns about Hamas, he was opposed to the Jewish state actually deporting the terrorists.

The media, too, helped turn the plight of the expelled Hamas terrorists into the leading human-rights issue of the day. For example, in a story headlined “Deporting the Hope for Peace,” Newsweek sympathetically reported that the deportees were “shivering in the cold.” The New York Times described the hillside upon which they were camped out, as “desolate.” The Christian Science Monitor said the deportees were huddling “under heavy rain.” And the Associated Press, which described Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi,
the future leader of Hamas, only as a Gaza physician, provided detailed
coverage of deportees who were suffering from such ailments as
diarrhea. Eventually, in response to public presuures such as these,
Israel agreed to permit the terrorists to return.

The first Hamas suicide bombing on
record took place on April 26, 1993, when Saher al-tamam attacked two
Israeli buses in Mehola, injuring several soldiers who were there on
leave. However, this mode of attack did not become the organization's “official policy” until 1994, when Hamas’ Yahya Ayyash—nicknamed ”The Engineer”— succeeded in perfecting the design for the suicide explosive belt. During the course of the next 13 years, Hamas terrorists would kill over 500 people in more than 350 separate attacks.

In October 1997, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the co-founder and spiritual head
of Hamas, was released from an Israeli prison and returned to Gaza
where he declared that the
Jewish state must "disappear from the map." "We have an aim and an
enemy," he added, "and we shall continue our jihad against the enemy. A
nation without a jihad is a nation without a purpose."

When Israeli helicopter gun ships used Hellfire missiles to kill Yassin on March 22, 2004, Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat eulogized him and declared three days of mourning for his people.

Upon Yassin's death, his leadership role with Hamas was immediately filled by the group's co-founder, Abdel Aziz al Rantisi,
a 54-year-old pediatrician who himself had escaped an Israeli
assassination attempt in June 2003. Immediately upon taking control of
Hamas, Rantisi threatened retaliatory attacks against
both Israel and the United States, though he later said that Hamas
would target only Israel. On April 17, 2004, an Israeli army helicopter
launched a missile strike on Rantisi's car, killing him.

That same month, Yasser Arafat told the German magazine Focus that he was prepared to include Hamas and Islamic Jihad in a new leadership structure to operate in parallel with the Palestinian Authority (PA). "Forming a unified Palestinian leadership does not contradict the Palestinian Authority," Fatah Central Committee member Hani al-Hassan told the Fatah-connected newspaper Al-Ayyam,
"as it is an internal Palestinian factional issue." "We think that all
political movements should take part in the political decision-making
process," agreed senior Hamas figure Sheikh Said Siam. But this alleged
diversity of political viewpoints was illusory. On January 3, 2003, PLO
political chief Farouq Al-Qaddoumi candidly acknowledged that Fatah, "strategically," was "never different from Hamas."

Hamas boycotted the PA's presidential elections of January 2005 but made a strong showing in the municipal elections, especially in Gaza, where it won 77 out of 118 seats in 10 council races.

In March 2005, FBI director Robert Mueller stated that "[o]f all the
Palestinian groups, Hamas has the largest presence in the United States
with a strong infrastructure … [and] is theoretically capable of
facilitating acts of terrorism in the United States." Seven months later
an FBI counterterrorism agent in New York affirmed Mueller's
assertions, stating:
"We have information [that] Hamas agents have been on U.S. soil the
past few years and that the group may currently have up to 100 agents
operating inside America." And according to terrorism expert Steven Emerson:

"Hamas has an extensive infrastructure in the U.S. mostly revolving
around the activities of fundraising, recruiting and training members,
directing operations against Israel, organizing political support and
operating through human rights front groups. … [I]t has the capability
of carrying out attacks in America if it decided to enlarge the scope of
its operations."

In July 2005, Mahmoud al-Zahar, the most senior Hamas member in Gaza, stated that his organization would "definitely not"
be prepared for long-term coexistence with Israel, even if the Jewish
state were to agree to return to the borders it had in 1967 -- i.e.,
before Israel had repelled the invading armies of Egypt, Syria, and
Jordan and taken control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "It
[coexistence] can be a temporary solution, for a maximum of 5 to 10
years," said al-Zahar.
"But in the end Palestine must return to become Muslim, and in the long
term Israel will disappear from the face of the earth."

In August 2005 al-Zahar said the
following as Israel, in an effort to foster peaceful coexistence with
its Palestinian neighbors, prepared to unilaterally withdraw all its
troops and civilian settlers from the Gaza Strip:

“We will enter the settlements and sully the dignity of Israel with
our feet. We will stand on the ruins of the Israeli settlements and tell
our people we have prevailed.”

“We do not and will not recognize a state called Israel. Israel has
no right to any inch of Palestinian land. This is an important issue.
Our position stems from our religious convictions. This is a holy land.
It is not the property of the Palestinians or the Arabs. This land is
the property of all Muslims in all parts of the world.”

“Let Israel die.”

Also in August 2005, the founders and political leaders of Hamas
joined forces to publicly announce that their organization's attacks
against Israeli targets would continue even after the Jewish state's
impending withdrawal from Gaza. Senior Hamas member Ismail Haniyehcharacterized Israel's action as a "retreat" that was "a result of resistance and our people's sacrifice." Promising more violence, he declared,
"Hamas confirms its adherence to resistance as a strategic option until
the occupation retreats from our lands and holy places" -- i.e., until
Israel ceases to exist.

When Israel proceeded to actually
withdraw from Gaza in September 2005, Hamas heralded the move by
defiantly blustering that its “Zionist enemy” had suffered a humiliating
“defeat,” and announcing its intent to continue pursuing Israel's
destruction.
For its perceived role in driving Israel out of Gaza, Hamas gained
immense popularity and political clout in the region. In January 2006,
the terror group participated for the first time in the PA's political
elections and won 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, effectively
taking control of the Palestinian government. Formally assuming power
on March 29, 2006, the new 24-member Hamas Cabinet included 14 ministers
who had previously served time in Israeli prisons.

Among "the first things Hamas did after taking over Gaza," writes Steven
Plaut, "was to launch a campaign of unbridled kleptocracy, stealing
funds and commodities shipped to the Gaza Strip as humanitarian aid
(including that sent by other Arab countries) sent via the UN
institutions operating there. A Qatari newspaper claims the theft
amounts to billions of dollars."

The newly installed Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, pledged to cooperate with PA president Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat’s successor and the head of the defeated Fatah party which
still controlled most of the PA's security apparatus. At a Gaza news
conference, Haniyeh pledged that his relations with Abbas would
emphasize the "cooperation and harmony" which could result from
confronting "Israeli aggression against the people." But before long,
Hamas and Fatah were embroiled in a contentious political rivalry that
escalated into violent street clashes throughout Gaza.

While this internal conflict was going on inside Gaza, Hamas terrorists
also had their sights set on on their hated neighbor to the north,
Israel. Since 2001, they had fired thousands of deadly rockets from Gaza
into southern Israeli towns and cities, most notably Sderot, located
just three miles from the Palestinian border. On June 11, 2006, Hamas
spokemsan Abu Oviyada candidly declared, “We have decided to turn Sderot
into a ghost town and we will not stop the rocket fire until the
residents leave.”

In addition to the rocket attacks, in the
post-2006-election era Hamas terrorists and their fellow Gazans also
targeted Israelis via car bombs, suicide bombings, sniper attacks,
stabbings, stonings, open gunfire in crowded places, the development of
chemical weapons, and the smuggling of TNT and mine components into
Israel.

In June 2006, Hamas released a video wherein one of its leading operatives, Yasser Ghalban, predicted the demise of the West:

"We will rule the nations, by Allah's will, the U.S.A. will be
conquered, Israel will be conquered, Rome and Britain will be conquered
… The Jihad for Allah ... is the way of Truth and the way for salvation
and the way which will lead us to crush the Jews and expel them from our
country, Palestine. Just as the Jews ran from Gaza, the Americans will
run from Iraq and Afghanistan and the Russians will run from Chechnya,
and the Indian will run from Kashmir, and our children will be released
from Guantanamo. The prisoners will be released by Allah's will, not by
peaceful means and not by agreements, but they will be released by the
sword, they will be released by the gun."

On June 28, 2006, Israeli troops and tanks entered the southern Gaza
Strip in an incursion intended to force the release of an Israeli
soldier who had been kidnapped from an army outpost three days earlier
by Palestinian militants.

On July 12, 2006, Lebanon-based Hezbollah
decisively opened a second front in the Arab war against Israel when it
conducted a surprise raid on a border post in northern Israel, taking
two IDF soldiers captive and wounding eleven others. The abductions,
which Israel called an act of war, prompted an Israeli military campaign
against Lebanon, to which Hezbollah responded by firing, over the next
month, more than 4,000 rockets across the Lebanese border and into
Israeli cities.

“It's not coincidental that we had these two
attacks and they're pretty much coordinated -- in the south with Hamas
and with Hizballah [Hezbollah] in the north,” said Israel's ambassador
to the U.S., Daniel Ayalon, noting that both groups are supported by
Tehran and Damascus.

Many of the rockets that Hamas (and
Hezbollah) fired into Israel were launched from civilian areas, making
it impossible for Israel to retaliate without causing civilian
casualties; the terror groups then exploited those casualties for
propaganda purposes. This has been standard procedure for both Hamas and
Hezbollah in every military conflict they have ever had with Israel. In
many cases, these organizations deliberately plant
civilians, including children and the elderly, in locations likely to
be targeted by the Israeli military -- so as to manufacture atrocities.
(Hamas’ willingness and even eagerness to use such "human shields" was articulated in 2008 by its interior minister, Fathi Hamad:
“For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which
women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly
excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why
they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly,
and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine.
It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: ‘We desire death like
you desire life.’”)

Both Hamas and Hezbollah said that they
would release their Israeli captives only in exchange for thousands of
their own members who were incarcerated in Israeli prisons at that time.
Israel replied that it would not engage in any prisoner exchanges, and
that it would cease its bombardment of terrorist strongholds only if
Hamas and Hezbollah agreed to suspend all rocket attacks into Israel and
unconditionally released the Israeli soldiers.

In August 2006,
after a month of combat, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire
under the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,
which called for "the immediate cessation by Hezbullah of all attacks
and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military
operations." Israel's battle against Hamas, meanwhile, had no formal
ending but simply de-escalated. Before long, Hamas and other Gazan terrorists resumed their practice of firing rockets aimlessly, and with impunity, into southern Israel.

In November 2006, Hamas announced that
it was "very satisfied" with reports that Israeli residents of
communities near the Gaza Strip -- most notably Sderot -- were prepared
to relocate because of the relentless barrage of rocket attacks that
Hamas was aiming at their villages on a daily basis. "The importance of
what is happening in Sderot proves to the Palestinians, especially those
who say rockets bring no results, that rocket attacks do bring big
benefits," said Abu
Abdullah, a key leader of Hamas' military wing (the Izzedine al-Qassam
Martyrs Brigades). "We promise we will keep hitting them because this
process [of launching rockets at Jewish communities] is starting to
bring results. We are working to improve our rockets to hit further and
cause more Jews to evacuate." Another Hamas spokesman, Abu Abaida, said: "There
are no limits on our rocket attacks and we will prove that in coming
days. We advise residents of Sderot to evacuate.... We keep working on
[the rockets] to improve deadliness, force and distance."

As
Hamas and Fatah continued to vie for control over Gaza in early 2007, a
number of Arab nations, headed by Saudi Arabia, led mediation efforts
that resulted in Hamas and Fatah agreeing to share power in a
Palestinian "unity government." Under this arrangement, Ismail Haniyeh kept his position as prime minister and Hamas retained majority control of the cabinet. The unity government was sworn in on March 17, 2007.

In a March 25, 2007 speech, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar gave voice to his organization's ultimate goal of helping Islam gain dominion over the entire planet:

"We have two important foundations [promising that Islam will
eventually dominate the earth]: one is Koranic and the other is
prophetic. The Koranic: the divine promise made in the Al-Israa Sura is
that we will liberate the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque ... And the prophetic
foundation is the message of the prophet Muhammad, that Islam will enter
every house and will spread over the entire world."

In April 2007, Hamas military leader Abu Abdullah emphasized his
group's unwavering commitment to destroying the state of Israel: "We
don't recognize Israel's right to exist. We will never allow Jews to
remain in our lands. ... We have thousands of rockets ready to be shot.”
Further, Abdullah warned that
if Israel were to raid Gaza in retaliation for its rocket attacks, "the
Zionists will be entering hell. We are preparing a major cemetery for
them. We will step up attacks, including dispatching suicide bombers to
Tel Aviv." Moreover, he revealed that Hamas had used a recent cease-fire
period as an opportunity to stockpile weaponry and to train for future
attacks against Israel.

After his organization had launched
some 150 missiles against Israel during one particular week in mid-May
2007, Hamas official Nizhar Riyah declared
that “Hamas is determined to wipe Israel off the map and replace it
with the state of Palestine.” He vowed to persevere “until the last Jew
is expelled” from "all of Palestine."

Also in mid-May 2007, simmering hostilities between Fatah and Hamas resurfaced. The following month,
these clashes escalated into full-blown violence that lasted for six
days. Fatah’s forces, trained and armed by the United States and other
Western nations, were routed. According to the Palestinian Center for
Human Rights, Hamas' violence was indiscriminate and demonstrated a
willful disregard for the conventions of war. For example, Hamas
fighters pushed a number of Fatah members from the roofs of tall
buildings; killed people who were already badly injured; shot enemies at
point-blank range to ensure permanent disabilities; and attacked
private homes, apartment buildings, hospitals, ambulances, and medical
crews.

By the time the fighting was over, Hamas had
seized almost all of Fatah’s major bases in the Gaza Strip. As a result,
Mahmoud Abbas announced on June 14 that
he was dismissing his Hamas-led government and declared a state of
emergency, thereby marking the end of the unity government that Hamas
and Fatah had formed earlier that year. Hamas was now firmly in control
of the region.
In the more populous West Bank, by contrast, Fatah's position
remained relatively secure; Hamas had been unable to establish its
authority there because of Israel’s continued military presence.

In Gaza, Hamas governed through
a combination of violence, authoritarianism, and Islamism. Some 1,000
people, almost all members of Fatah and the PA, were illegally arrested in
the first months of Hamas rule by the so-called Executive Force,
a newly formed Hamas police organization whose leader actually admitted
to the use of torture and violence against his political enemies. According to one human-rights report,
the nascent Hamas government also attacked members of the media and
peaceful demonstrators who questioned its policies in any way. By
November 2007, the British press reported that “only believers feel safe” in Gaza, and that “un-Islamic” dress sometimes resulted in beatings.
Another hallmark of Hamas' rule was its gross mistreatment of
the minority Christian community, mostly Greek Orthodox, which had
lived in relative peace for centuries amid Gaza’s predominantly Sunni
Muslim population. By one count, more than 50 attacks against such
Christians took place in the first few months following the Hamas coup
of June 2007.

In mid-September 2007, Israel designated Hamas-ruled Gaza as a hostile political entity and authorized a series of economic sanctions against
the region, including restrictions on the supply of electricity and
fuel, the closure of joint industrial areas, and the shutting down of
crossings that connected Israel and the Gaza Strip. Hamas in turn characterized Israel's actions as a "declaration of war."

During a television program that aired on Hamas's Al-Aqsa TVon February 28, 2008, Hamas cleric Wael Al-Zarad stated that the Muslims' desire to slaughter Jews "will only subside with their [the Jews] annihilation, Allah willing."

On December 27, 2008, Israel launched “Operation Cast Lead”
(OCL), a military operation targeting Hamas and other terrorists in
Gaza. Specifically, the operation was a response to the fact that
between January 2001 and December 2008, Hamas and its affiliated
terrorists in Gaza had fired some 8,165 rockets and mortars at civilian
communities in southern Israel -- with no end in sight.

On
January 18, 2009 -- after three weeks of combat -- Hamas accepted the
terms of a ceasefire that Israel had unilaterally declared the day
before.

In May 2011, Hamas and Fatah signed a landmark reconciliation pact aimed at ending their bitter four-year rift. The deal called for
the formation of an interim government to run both the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, with parliamentary and presidential elections to follow
within a year.

In late 2011,
Hamas added the phrase "a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood – Palestine"
to its official name – i.e., "The Islamic Resistance Movement." A
senior Hamas source stated that his group was now officially part of the
global Muslim Brotherhood organization.

Between January and mid-November of 2012, Hamas terrorists fired more than 700 rockets
into southern Israel. Some 120 of those were launched during November
10-14. In response, Israel carried out a precision strike on a car
carrying Hamas military chief Ahmad Jabari, mastermind of the 2006
kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Video of the strike shows it was designed to minimize civilian casualties. After killing Jabari, the Israeli Defense Forces struck 100 terrorist target locations in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Hamas, in turn, declared
that Israel's initial strike against Jabari had “opened the gates of
hell,” and that its 35,000 fighters would soon be deployed in attacks
against the Jews.

On November 15 and 16, 2012, Hamas militants fired
two missiles toward Tel Aviv -- the first time Israel's largest city
had come under such attack since the 1991 Gulf War. Neither of the
missiles hit any population targets.

On November 16, 2012, Hamas launched a missile intended for the Israeli parliament building in Jerusalem
-- the first time any structure in that city had been targeted by
missiles since 1970. The projectile, however, landed in Gush Etzion,
south of Jerusalem, and caused no casualties.

At a March 10, 2014 ceremony in Gaza City, Hamas unveiled a full-sized statue
of a large M75 rocket named in honor of Qassam Brigades founding member
Ibrahim al-Maqadma, whom Israel had assassinated in 2003. "Hamas
managed to take the battle to the heart of the Zionist entity after
developing its rocket system, succeeding where many Arab armies had
failed," said a Hamas leader flanked by masked fighters at the statue's
unveiling. Another Hamas official, meanwhile, proclaimed that in any
future confrontation with Israel his organization would use long-range
weapons to target cities in the far north.

That same day,
Israel displayed a shipment of arms -- including long-range rockets with
a range of up to 100 miles -- that it had captured as they were being transported from Iran to Gaza.

On June 2, 2014, Palestinian leaders formed
a new “government of national unity,” headed by Palestinian Authority
Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and backed by Hamas. The establishment of
this new transitional government signaled the end of a seven-year feud
between Hamas and Fatah, the Palestinian political factions that
separately controlled the Gaza Strip and West Bank, respectively.
According to the Washington Post,
the Hamas-Fatah alliance "appears to skirt, barely, U.S. prohibitions
on aid to a Palestinian government that has 'undue' Hamas presence or
influence."

“Today we declare the end of the split and regai[n]
the unity of the homeland,” Fatah/PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas said in a
recorded speech on Palestine TV. “This black page in our history has
been closed forever.”

It was not immediately determined,
however, whether Hamas and its military wing would permit the new unity
government to run the security forces in the Gaza Strip, or conversely,
whether Hamas would be allowed to operate more freely in the West
Bank—e.g., to stage mass rallies or run social programs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed
that he would never conduct diplomatic negotiations with a government
“backed by Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the
destruction of Israel." Israeli Finance Minister Naftali Bennett characterized the new Palestinian government as "terrorists in suits."

On July 6, 2014, Hamas released a new video calling for genocide
against Israelis. Claiming that Israel's leaders had chosen death, and
advising those who lived in the southern Israeli town of Beer Sheva to
flee, the video featured images of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, and Israeli Chief of
General Staff of the IDF Benny Gantz juxtaposed with images of bloody
Palestinian children who allegedly had been injured or killed by Israel.
The video concluded with footage of rocket fire directed towards
Israel, and showed men, women and children fleeing desperately for their
lives.

On July 17, 2014, Israel,
exasperated by the relentless barrage of potentially deadly rockets
that Hamas terrorists were launching from Gaza deep into the Jewish
state – and by Hamas's rejection of an Egyptian cease-fire plan earlier
that week – sent ground troops into Gaza for the purpose of degrading
Hamas's killing capacity. Most significantly, Israel aimed to locate and
destroy the massive network of underground concrete tunnels which Hamas
had built below heavily populated areas throughout Gaza. These tunnels
were used to store, transport, and launch Hamas's enormous stockpiles of
missiles. Many of the tunnels also extended into Israeli territory,
thereby providing Hamas militants with a means of entering Israel
undetected and carrying out terror missions.

During Israel's July 2014 war against Hamas, IDF forces in the Gaza Strip found a Hamas manual
on “Urban Warfare,” which belonged to the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’
military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. In a section entitled “Limiting
the Use of [Israeli] Weapons,” the manual explains that it is beneficial
for jihadists to use civilians as human shields because the IDF
invariably seeks to avoid harming noncombatants:
"The soldiers and commanders [of the
IDF] must limit their use of weapons and tactics that lead to the harm
and unnecessary loss of people and [destruction of] civilian facilities.
It is difficult for them to get the most use out of their firearms,
especially of supporting fire [e.g. artillery]."
Expanding on this theme, the Hamas manual explains
that the “presence of [Palestinian] civilians are pockets of
resistance” that present three major problems for Israeli troops:
"Problems with opening fire"; "Problems in controlling the civilian
population during operations and afterward"; and "Assurance of supplying
medical care to civilians who need it."

Lastly, the manual emphasizes
that when the homes of Palestinian civilians are destroyed, Hamas
benefits in terms of propaganda and world opinion: "The destruction of
civilian homes: This increases the hatred of the citizens towards the
attackers [the IDF] and increases their gathering [support] around the
city defenders [i.e., Hamas]."
Hamas publishes a biweekly, London-based children’s magazine titled Al-Fateh, which regularly characterizes Jews as “murderers of the prophets”; lauds parents who encourage their sons to kill Jews; and, according to the Middle East Media Research Center, incites
youngsters to “jihad and martyrdom and glorification of terrorist
operations and of their planners and perpetrators.” Each issue features
an installment of “The Story of a Martyr,” presenting the “heroic deeds”
of a Muslim who died in a suicide bombing or who was killed before
committing such crimes by the Israeli Defense Forces. (Click here to view some examples of the text and illustrations contained in this Hamas production.)

Defenders of Hamas commonly assert that the organization provides
valuable social services for the Palestinian people. Steven Plaut addresses this claim:

"Hamas does indeed operate social services, but mainly as a tool in
asserting its power and control, and in order to finance its
terrorism. The American State Department has traditionally drawn no
distinction between Hamas terrorism and its social services: 'As long as
Hamas continues to rely on terrorism to achieve its political ends, we
should not draw a distinction between its military and humanitarian
arms, since funds provided to one can be used to support the other.'
Even the normally anti-Israel Human Rights Watch has concluded that Hamas social functions are part and parcel of its terrorist activity."

We are hypocrites and cowards - we take freedom for granted as it is eroding underneath our feet‏

Message to offended Muslims

A GOOD, TRUE STORY NOT KNOWN BY MANY.....Air Force.

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

What happened?

Mark Hasten Tribute Video Touro College

Housing Quiz

The Record-so far...!

CBS special on Bengazi

Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare

Sally Nelson

Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

Islamization on the move

"What we are dealing with is Islamization. Islamization is the imposition of ideological norms in increasing severity. Like Nazification, it transforms a society by remaking it in its own image from the largest to the smallest of details."Daniel Greenfield

Toronto rejects Anti-Israel Ads...

Shrinking Lands

Why Israel opposes international forces in the jordan valley/

/why-israel-opposes-international-forces-in-the-jordan-valley/

Islam is Islam, And That’s It

Back in 2007, when confronted with the phrase “moderate Islam”, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan famously responded: “These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading and annotating this video: View video at http://gatesofvienna.net/

There's no racist like a liberal racist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vz4PjxSmtoI

Ex-Navy SEAL Drops Bombshell On FOX: Says Government is Creating Conditions to Impose Martial Law R

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDuds14OBiE#t=156

American surprise

The Nairobi Mall Massacre

Ninh Chu Ninh Chu

Islam Untied

Platitudes about Islam being a faith of peace are not credible anymore. Islam is only as good as the way its followers practice it; and if they have created killing fields in the name of Islam, then Islam will be recognized by the silence of those who did not speak out when their faith was being massacred to massacre humanity.

AFTERBURNER w/ BILL WHITTLE: The Lynching

What-are you against peace?

Sydney Wake Up The Horrific Muslim Infiltration Of Britain - Luton

Kerry: 'Core Issue of Instability ... Is the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict'‏

Kerry is no friend. By endorsing the "Arab peace initiative" he shows his true intentions and beliefs . And by endorsing linkage he shows that he is either a liar or a fool.Syria is on fire, Egypt is at best incredibly unstable and this is due to Israel? It is out in the open!

A word to left-wing students

In their own words-ru listening?

"The lesson these Islamist groups appear to be drawing from events in Egypt is that democratic engagement with opponents is pointless. And that doesn't bode well for countries with strong Islamist movements..."

Flashback: Obama Admits He Cut Medicare

Another Democratic slogan blown to h....

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

When nations and cultures ignore the early warning signs of the infiltration of radical Islam

The UK has 85 sharia courts. France has over 750 “no go zones,” Muslim enclaves where even French police don’t enter.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDKk15KcqNk&feature=email

No such thing as "Islamophobia"

However, if you do not want your positions challenged or criticized or even researched, make up a new "phobia"-shout it long enough and some "people", agenda driven, will use it. Ay, yes, the false term does keep many, many financially rewarded-follow the money.gs don morris, Ph.D.

Khader Adnan: Leader of Islamic jihad or innocent baker?

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.More...

Omar Barghouti's Propaganda at USC on January 12, 2012

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’ -- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.Clare M. Lopez

Americans are opening their eyes

Advertisers fleeing All-American Muslim 'propaganda'The American people are seeing through the propaganda piece that is TLC's All-American Muslim reality/dawah show, and responsible advertisers are fleeing in droves. The show aims to combat a trumped-up problem, "Islamophobia," by presenting Muslims who are just ordinary folk, and

Why Islam is Incompatible with Western Law

Col. Allen West answers a question on muslim terror

Challah's Gaza Rocket Counter

This Month:4Last Month:191

This Year: 562

Total since 2002: 12055

Cease fire Hamas style!!

Thanks http://challahhuakbar.blogspot.com/

"Islamophobia"

"Islamophobia" was a politically manipulative coinage designed to silence critics of Islamic supremacism.It was invented, deliberately, by a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, which is based in Northern Virginia.

10 Unknown West Bank Facts

Liberals Redefine "Extremism" and the "Political Center"

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist.The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Don’t ever call it ‘West Bank’ again

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

Who do the territories belong to?

The legal borders of Israel under international law

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror YeminiIn 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state. Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

How Liberals Argue

Hebrew Univ-you rock!!

Judea and Samaria are not "occupied" lands-why?

Judea-Samaria were not only parts of the ancient Jewish homeland but were recognized as part of the Jewish National Home recognized by San Remo and the League of Nations [1920, 1922] and by the UN charter [article 80; 1945].

"Political Correctness."

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end."Texas A&M

Christopher Monckton Speaking in St. Paul on the climate issues

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

WHAT Golda Meir actually said...

"When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist." Golda Meir June 15, 1969: Interview in the UK Sunday Times

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

About Me

Semi-retired Professor, now also permanent resident of Israel;divides time between both countries-serves on several Boards of Directors for Israel advocacy groups;Chana, resident of Jerusalem, JCPA member